Karen asked me about the heel of my socks, so I thought I'd post my sock pattern.
99% of the socks I knit are the same pattern - just basic top-down. I keep wanting to try toe-up, and Cookie A's fancy patterns (as seen in her two books, and on Knitty - among others, I'm sure).
For reference, I wear a men's size 9 or so sneaker, in an extra-wide width. These will fit, with minor adjustment, a women's 8 or 9 up to a men's 10 or so, with just minor variations. I use five double-pointed needles (stitches on 4, knit with the 5th) but this would be easy to adapt to two circulars or "magic loop" methods. The needles I use are a 2.25 mm (but I keep thinking of using a 2.0 mm with some of the thinner sock yarns - need to get some of those).
Sock pattern
Cast on 72 stitches (on 4 needles, I space them 16 sts/ 20 sts/ 16 sts/ 20 sts)
Knit 2, Purl 2 ribbing for 20 rows (longer for entirely ribbed leg / foot). This is why I do the 16/20/16/20 stitches; each needle starts with 2 knit stitches instead of with purl stitches.
Knit a total of 72 rows (same as the number of cast-on stitches) before the heel flap.
HEEL:
Knit 36 rows on 36 sts. I don't do any slip stitches or anything, just stockinette.
Next is the heel turn: Knit 18 stitches (to the center of the 36-stitch heel flap), then knit 3 stitches, Knit 2 tog, K1, turn
Slip 1st stitch, Purl 7, Purl 2 tog, P1, turn.
Continue until 22 stitches remain, end on a knit row.
Pick up 21 sts across heel flap, Knit across next 2 needles (18 sts ea), pick up 21 sts; divide 22 remaining heel flap stitches across both pick-up needles.
K 1 round. Next round -
K to last 3 sts, SSK, K1
Knit across next 2 needles
K1, K2tog, K remaining stitches
Alternate with plain Knit round & decrease round until heel stitches are back to 18.
Knit plain for 70 rows, counting from pick-up row. I use small coil-less brass pins to mark every 10 rows. This helps me make the socks the same size.
*For Mom's socks, 65 rows; for Dad's, 67 rows
For my socks, 70 rows before beginning decreases
German Round Toe decrease:
Do 1 decrease round, 3 plain -
Decrease round: K1, K2tog, knit to end of needle; on next needle, knit to within last 3 sts, SSK, k1;
repeat for next 2 needles. K 3 plain rounds, then:
Do twice: (1 decrease round, 2 plain)
Do 4 times: (1 decrease round, 1 plain)
Then decrease every round, until you end up with 3 sts on each needle
Thread tail through needle, close toe, run tail through stitches until secured.
This decrease was taken from Flor's Knitting Pages, now sadly only available via the Wayback Machine:
http://web.archive.org/web/20040603131106/http://flor.trix.net/gtoe.htm
